Lizaar is laughing, Lannahi thought with no less astonishment.
“Music and flowerspeakers.” Lizaar shook her head. “Only you would propose something like this to landshapers.”
Lannahi didn’t dare call what she saw in the woman’s eyes as admiration, but there was certainly interest in them. She smiled. “Think it through. If you come to the conclusion that it could work, prepare a list of artisans who have the necessary skills or might be willing to expand them. They will be skeptical, but maybe the possibility of dominating the market in Greentower will tempt them.”
Lizaar shook her head again but said, “Fine.”
After breakfast, Lannahi ordered Dallal to remove the collar from Lizaar’s neck. The landshaper stiffened, uncertain of what to expect.
“I believe we have come to an understanding,” Lannahi said. “I will keep the collar until the next Sabbath.”
Lizaar’s gaze was steady, but when the collar slipped from her neck, she couldn’t keep herself from running her fingers along her neck with barely concealed relief.
Lannahi got up from the table and said casually, “I leave you to the morning audience. I will join you at noon.”
Lizaar hesitated but eventually asked, “And where are you going?”
Lannahi smiled.
“To the barracks.”
***
Just as Lannahi had expected, her visit to the barracks didn’t elicit any enthusiasm from the soldiers, but at least the Captain of the City Guard didn’t look at her like she was a sneaky viper whose head should be crushed with a stone—a look she had become used to among landshapers—but watched her closely as if anticipating a strike. The difference was subtle but hopeful.
“Your Highness,” Nuadd greeted her politely as she joined him in the gallery overlooking the training hall. “If I had known you were coming, I would have had the area better secured.”
Unlike the training room in the palace, the hall was located inside the hill intended specifically for this purpose. Instead of an intricate web of chambers and corridors there was only one room with galleries built against the uneven stone walls to allow bystanders to observe the activity below. The structural simplicity was dictated by practical reasons—if a landshaper became carried away by their emotions and lost control of their magic during the training, any damage would be easy to repair. Nuadd’s words thus alluded to a real threat, but Lannahi didn’t feel it was a purposeful attack on his part. The man assumed that she’d come here without Baddur’s knowledge and wanted to know the reason.
“I was curious about how landshaper’s train,” she said in a light tone. “As you are aware, I mainly trained with enchanters.”
Surprise flashed in his eyes, but he hid it by shifting his gaze to the soldiers training two floors below. Lannahi followed his gaze and her pulse quickened. She knew that since he’d resigned from his official post as the captain of the palace guards, Ashared had been training more with the soldiers who wished to test their mettle against the seasoned fighter and though the sight of him sparring below did not surprise her, the memory of the previous evening threw her off balance for a moment.
Let me know when you feel like playing again.
Lannahi forced herself to look away from the muscular chest of the dueling swordsman. The room was so large that it easily accommodated groups practicing various disciplines like fencing, archery, and hand-to-hand combat. Several soldiers also worked in groups on strength exercises. In a gold-tongued’s city, this dense training ground would be considered ineffectual.
“Have you ever fought an enchanter, captain?” she asked the man standing next to her.
Nuadd glanced at her but soon returned his gaze to the soldiers. “Yes,” he replied.
“Did you win?”
From the heavy pause that followed her question, Lannahi guessed the truth but waited patiently for him to answer. She watched him sweep his gaze over Dallal and Erril, both standing nearby.
“No,” he said eventually. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t try to win next time.”
Lannahi smiled. “That’s a good attitude.” She ran her gaze over the hall. “What would you say if I offered you and your soldiers the opportunity to train together with my guards? For starters, once or twice a week.”
Since he again didn’t reply immediately, she turned to face him. He had a straight nose, wide eyebrows, and alert eyes hiding a cautious ambition. From the information Souhi had gathered for her, it appeared that the man had had a good career in the Winterfort army, but due to high competition, promotions to top positions had always eluded him. When Mahhir had begun his reign in Rubycrest, Nuadd had relocated there to serve under him and ultimately rose to the position of Captain of the City Guard. For some reason, however, he’d resigned his post and moved to a newly built city.
The city where the function of General was held not by a friend of the monarch as in Rubycrest but by an old soldier from Winterfort sent heretemporarily.
“I would say that the soldiers would benefit greatly from your proposal,” Nuadd finally spoke, watching her as intently as she was looking at him. “I assume, however, that it has a price.”
“Of course,” Lannahi said. “I won’t share secrets that could be used against me, unless it is to someone I can trust.”
Nuadd regarded her for a moment, but then he moved his gaze to the men guarding the entrance with Kalahadd in the lead. Wanting to give him time to collect his thoughts, she looked down. She tried not to look in Ashared’s direction but lost the battle with herself.
